Sunday, 18 September 2016

POP! Movies – Leatherface

Series: POP! Movies

Company: Funko

Year: 2011/2012?

More than forty years after its release, there’s not a lot
left to be said about The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre, so here’s the basic recap: it was wildly controversial on
release, marketed as being based on a true story and served as a granddaddy to
the whole slasher film genre. Since then, there’s been several more movies in
the series, spanning sequels, prequels and remakes. Their quality has varied
wildly, as might be expected – but the fact that you’re reading this article
suggests that you’re probably familiar with a lot of this stuff anyway.

Today we’re looking at the POP of the series’ most iconic
villain, Leatherface. Leatherface and his freakish Sawyer family were inspired
by the macabre real-life antics of Ed Gein, a man from Wisconsin whose crimes
horrified America when they were discovered in the mid-1950s. Known as a bit of
an odd fellow and loner, it turned out he was far more sinister than anyone
would have expected – his hobbies included grave robbing, murder and making
various items out of body parts, including masks*.

Leatherface wears three different masks in the film, but the
POP depicts his “Killing Mask”, which is probably the most iconic. It seems he
didn’t do a great job tanning it, though – there’s big gaps around the eyes and
mouth, and the whole thing has a shrivelled, yellow look. It’s a stark contrast
to the other two masks he wears, which were more naturalistic and as a result
somewhat more disconcerting when they appear onscreen.

His outfit is basically a butcher’s one – yellow apron,
collared shirt and a black tie – though instead of some knives, he’s carrying a
yellow chainsaw. Gunnar Hansen, who portrayed Leatherface in the film, was a
big guy, and the chainsaw looks almost comically small in some scenes – Funko
has replicated this effect quite nicely here, without it looking weird, as can sometimes
happen when they try and merge their stylised look with real-world proportions.

Now there is a variant available too – a bloody version, rather
than a glow-in-dark one. It does look cool, but it’ll set you back a pretty
penny. My suggestion would be to simply buy a regular one and add your own “blood”
with paint if you find it necessary.

And on that note, paint is a bit of a mixed bag. His face
and hair are well executed, but you’ll want to check carefully to make sure
there’s not a ton of slop around the actual chainsaw. A minor nit is that the
tie should have a white stripe on it to be screen-accurate, but its absence isn’t
the end of the world. Additionally, it’s not unusual for the chainsaw to be
warped in the box; you can probably straighten it with the hot water and ice
trick though.

So overall? Well, I’m not the world’s biggest Texas Chain Saw Massacre fan. The years and
thousands of movies that have followed in its wake have defanged it somewhat –
modern audiences watching it are just as likely to be bored as they are to be
frightened or disgusted. However, it still has its share of disconcerting
moments, and I can appreciate its importance to horror history. Leatherface is
a bona fide horror icon, and thus he’s
a worthy addition to my rapidly expanding horror POP shelf. He’s well-executed
(ha!) and should please fans of the character.

*Ed Gein also served as a loose inspiration for Buffalo Bill
from Silent of the Lambs, Norman
Bates from Psycho and numerous
others. Slayer wrote a song about him on their Seasons in the Abyss album too, called – appropriately enough – "Dead Skin Mask".